


Bedtime Stories for Foxes

by yhlee (etothey)



Category: Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Banter, Bondage, Dubious Consent, M/M, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:00:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21707869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etothey/pseuds/yhlee
Summary: Mikodez tells Jedao a bedtime story, after a fashion.  Or: unethical therapy, Shuos-style.Thanks to sigalit for the beta.
Relationships: Shuos Jedao/Shuos Mikodez
Comments: 16
Kudos: 89
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Bedtime Stories for Foxes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [UrsulaKohl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/UrsulaKohl/gifts).



"Once upon a time," said Hexarch Shuos Mikodez as he sat on the edge of the bed, "there was a fox."

Shuos Jedao, who was tied to the posts of that selfsame bed, lifted his head with an effort and fixed Mikodez with an interested stare. "Excuse me, Shuos-zho," he said, exaggerating his drawl, "but this has got to be the most cockeyed seduction attempt I've ever endured." Dispassionately, he cataloged the restraints: ropes, single column ties for the wrists, legs bound so comprehensively that he couldn't do more than squirm. He was impressed that he hadn't woken while this was going on.

"Seduction nothing," Mikodez said. He removed his shoes, then his socks, and flung them to the side. Jedao wondered snidely what Zehun would have said, although he wasn't sure to what extent Zehun monitored Mikodez's trysts. Mostly he assumed that Zehun monitored All Things Mikodez.

Besides waking tied up, and expertly at that (Jedao had a certain amount of experience at being tied up, mostly thanks to Kujen), Jedao was also stark naked. "All right," he said, "is this torture or interrogation instead?"

"Not those either." Mikodez did not disrobe. He did, however, shift so he could pat Jedao on the shoulder. Jedao concealed a flinch; Mikodez's teeth glinted in a not-smile. "I'm going to talk," Mikodez said. "You're going to listen. Frankly, tying you down was the only way I could make sure you were going to pay attention."

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Jedao said, then: "Sorry. Reflex."

"Very funny." Mikodez leaned over to where a tray of candies rested on the nightstand. (Of course there was a tray of candies. This was how Jedao could tell this was really Mikodez, or else a very dedicated double, because even from here those candies smelled nauseatingly sweet.)

"I don't see why you don't just have me offed," Jedao said. "Less trouble all around if you don't trust me anyway."

Mikodez shrugged. "No progress on that front. We can't even seem to destroy the tissue samples we harvested from you. If 'tissue' is the right word for whatever the hell that substance is."

"It's not my fault I'm an eldritch abomination," Jedao said, which was almost true. He could have said a lot about Kujen's terrible life choices at this point, but Mikodez knew it already, so he saved them both the litany.

"Besides," Mikodez said, "your solution to everything is to put a bullet in it. You realize how unproductive that is?"

"Yes," Jedao lied.

Mikodez huffed out a sigh, bit into his candy, swallowed down the pieces with an audible gulp. "You're lying," he said without rancor. "You know, just because you've been a soldier for most of your life doesn't mean you can't embrace other solutions."

"I would point out," Jedao said, starting to wish for a blanket, "that people have usually not complained that I was bad at my job."

"You're dismayingly effective at killing people," Mikodez said, which wasn't agreement. "You're also completely helpless when it comes to problems that can't be solved with guns."

"I _am_ a gun, Shuos-zho."

Mikodez slammed his hand down on the nightstand. The candies clattered in the dish. "You are a gun," he said, "the way I am a goldfish."

Jedao amused himself with images of Mikodez floating upside-down in a poorly aerated aquarium or, even better, devoured by one of Zehun's cats. (Perhaps even the calico that was named after him?) Too bad his hexarch problems couldn't be solved so expeditiously.

More kindly, Mikodez went on, "Normally I would be content to leave you to your self-flagellation--"

"Oh, is that where this is going."

"Hush. I left my whips in the other bedroom, so you'll have to do without."

"You're such a disappointment, Shuos-zho. Why tie me down if you're not even going to abuse me a little?"

Mikodez looked down at Jedao with an unreadable expression. Then: "You should not have been left in Kujen's hands for so long. For that I am sorry. You are mine by rights, and I failed you."

"If you'll recall," Jedao said, "I went out of your custody a few generations before you were born. I don't hold grudges."

Mikodez snorted. "That's a likely story. Sex isn't out of the question, but I'm not going to force the act on you."

Jedao laughed scornfully and pulled against the restraints. For show, of course; that wasn't the way to get out of them. "Do tell, Shuos-zho."

Mikodez arched an eyebrow as he patted Jedao's shoulder again. "You hate being touched, don't you."

Jedao didn't answer.

"Or rather," Mikodez said, "you crave it at the same time you wish you didn't. It was a long time in the black cradle, wasn't it? And on the occasions that Kujen let you out, he used you as his toy."

Jedao yawned. "Go on," he said, "bore me with all the things we both already know about me. Wake me up when you get to something new." He closed his eyes, despite the risk. Sometimes he almost missed being able to see in all directions at once, except for the price.

Mikodez slapped his flank.

Jedao's eyes flew open at the obnoxious stinging sensation; his teeth had clenched against his will, and he cursed himself for the obvious reaction.

"The only way you're going to get through this," Mikodez said, hellishly calm, "is systematic desensitization. Frankly, I searched far and wide among my staff for someone qualified to do the job. Of the available candidates, every single one turned me down, and that's despite my offering considerable hazard pay"--Jedao smiled ironically at that--"and amazing benefits." Mikodez's tone was aggrieved. "So that left me."

"Wonderful," Jedao said with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. "Couldn't you just fob me off on some cut-rate back-alley courtesan instead?" While he was wishing for things he couldn't have, he would have liked it if Mikodez had offered whiskey, although he knew better than to ask for it.

"I do," Mikodez said, "have some basic courtesan training."

Jedao groaned.

"It was an elective."

"That doesn't actually make me feel better about this. How about enlisting some cadet instead? They're probably better qualified than you are."

"Now you're hurting my feelings," Mikodez said, although he gave no sign whatsoever of anything other than mild affrontment. "In any case, we're going to do this over and over until you can withstand a simple human touch without looking like a condemned man. Where you go from there is up to you. Normally I wouldn't care if one of my own chose celibacy, but a close study of your particular profile suggests that walling yourself away from people is going to turn you into a time bomb. Don't think I haven't noticed the fact that you never leave your suite unless you have no choice in the matter."

Jedao stared at him, baffled, before the reason for this whole unorthodox conversation came clear. "You're speaking," he said slowly, "like I'm something that you can fix and put back in the field. You're wasting your time, you know. It would make more sense to euthanize me already and recruit some other broken bird."

Mikodez shut his eyes for a moment. Reopened them. "Some _one_ ," he said, almost gently. "Not some _thing_."

"I don't see the difference."

"It makes every difference. I'm a bureaucrat. Wasted resources pain me."

"There's such a thing as sunk cost fallacy, you know."

"Spoken like one who knows," Mikodez retorted, frowning slightly. "You don't have to pretend, by the way."

"Pretend what?"

"You can get out of those restraints any time you want. I have access to all the records on you, you know." Mikodez shrugged. "I'm not completely stupid. I know better than to trust a trained operative in spider restraints _or_ ordinary ropes, and I know exactly where you've stashed those two lockpicks."

Jedao gave him a jaundiced look. "Are you trying to provoke me into assassinating you? Because the only thing that's stopping me is the horrifying thought of having to take the seat in your stead. I hate paperwork."

"Ah, there's an eternal torture I could subject you to. Zehun has been looking for an assistant, you know."

Jedao shuddered.

"You'd like me to declare this whole experiment a crashing failure and order your incineration," Mikodez said, merciless, "but as it so happens, I have better uses for you."

"Of course you do," Jedao said wearily. "They always do. Fine; we'll do it your way. If you wish me to submit, I'll submit. Beat me, cut me, take your pleasure of me, withhold it; I don't care. I've seen it all."

"You're missing the point rather spectacularly," Mikodez observed. He didn't move toward Jedao, or away from him either. "All I want, for a start, is for you to recognize that you're a person with needs of your own. I do realize that it will probably take longer than I have left to live to get you there, but I might be blessed with a successor who's willing to continue the project. You never know."

"Shuos-zho," Jedao said drily, "mindless fucking would be ever so much more pleasant than all this pointless talking."

"You're lying," Mikodez said, "but never mind that. You must have craved that too, when you were locked in the lightless dark: someone to talk to. It was how Kujen controlled you. I don't want you so starved for conversation that you take up with the next sociopathic tyrant who makes eyes at you."

"Yet here you are," Jedao said, "making eyes at me."

Mikodez smiled. "Flattery will get you everywhere. Tell me the truth: would it really offend you so much to listen to bedtime stories for foxes, from one of the few people who isn't afraid of you, or would you rather I hand you back over to the Kel?"

Jedao considered that. He missed the Kel; would always miss them. He longed to lose himself in the simplicity of their worldview. But he wasn't good for them, either. It might make for a nice change of pace to leave an institution before destroying it utterly. "No," he said after a pause. "I think that part of my life is over."

"Progress at last," Mikodez said. "Even if it took you the better part of four centuries."

"What can I say, Shuos-zho, I'm a slow learner."

"I am," Mikodez said, "willing to teach you for as long as it takes."

Jedao breathed in, breathed out. After a longer pause, he said, "I don't have much sensation where the scars are." Most of them riddled his torso; Mikodez couldn't fail to see them. "If you--if you would start there. For today."

He wasn't sure what he hoped Mikodez would say. Maybe nothing. Maybe this was another fox game, and the hexarch would leave him bound, or use the vulnerability against him. And if so, it would be his fault for revealing a weakness.

But he was so tired of having no one to trust, and at this end of time, he wondered if it mattered anymore.

Mikodez lowered himself so he lay parallel to Jedao, not quite touching. Slowly, he rested a fingertip on the scar that had obliterated Jedao's left nipple. One of the worse ones. "Do you feel that?"

"Not really," Jedao said. He was tense. Mikodez would be able to tell, even if he hadn't commented on it.

Mikodez leaned in to trace the map of Jedao's scars, one by one, never faster than Jedao could bear it. He had a steady touch, to the extent that Jedao felt it at all. "Someday," Mikodez said, "you will discover that lack of sensation is not the same as lack of injury."

"I already know that. It comes up all the time in field medicine."

Mikodez smiled sadly. "Do you?"

Fraction by fraction Jedao relaxed. It was touch, however little he could feel it. "I think," he said, after some more thought, "that I would like you to kiss me."

Jedao knew it would never be more than a lie, but he suddenly hungered for the pretense that they were ordinary lovers, and that he wasn't a fucking _weekend project_ for the man who owned him. A terrible thing to desire, considering what he'd done in all his previous lives; yet he couldn't quell the sick yearning.

"Of course," Mikodez said in barely a whisper. He pressed a kiss to Jedao's chest, again starting with the scar where his nipple had once been. "As much or as little as you like."

Jedao closed his eyes once again and allowed himself to drift into the fantasy that he'd chosen this. Perhaps if he dreamed it enough times, it'd even come true. A kinder fate than he deserved, surely.

"Someday I'll take the restraints off for this," Mikodez murmured, much later. "But right now I think you feel safer with them on."

"What I feel is immaterial," Jedao replied. By now he was very tired.

"And someday I'll persuade you otherwise," Mikodez said, but Jedao had already fallen asleep, as bonelessly relaxed as he never was when awake.

Quietly, Mikodez unfastened all the restraints, then tucked Jedao in. He instructed the grid to play soft music--he was guessing at Jedao's tastes--so he would not wake to silence. Mikodez did not turn the lights out, either. He glanced back at Jedao, smiled briefly, then let himself out. They'd have to finish the bedtime story another time, even if it took a thousand thousand nights.


End file.
